{
  "title": "Justifying a decision: what accountability really changes",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/justifier-une-decision-ce-que-la-responsabilisation-change-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-06-22",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "Asking managers to justify their choices seems to offer a safeguard for rigorous thinking. Research shows that its effects depend in particular on when the request is made and on the expectations of the person receiving the explanation.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Decision-making",
  "place": {
    "name": "Neuchâtel",
    "region": "Neuchâtel",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Philip Tetlock (1983, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) experimentally investigated the effects of accountability on the complexity of reasoning."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The recipient of the explanation changes the mechanism",
      "point": "Jennifer Lerner and Philip Tetlock (1999, Psychological Bulletin) show in a literature review that accountability is not an intervention with uniform effects."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "It might follow that simply requiring a written justification will improve decisions."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What the evidence cannot promise",
      "point": "The experimental settings and the studies assembled in this review do not demonstrate that a particular procedure will reduce qualification errors in a Neuchâtel industrial company."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Neuchâtel",
      "point": "As part of SHR's [decision-making](/formation/prise-de-decision/neuchatel) programme, an exercise applicable to a Neuchâtel company in microtechnology, watchmaking or precision microelectronics is to document supplier qualification decisions before approval."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Tetlock",
      "year": "1983",
      "source": "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Tetlock",
      "year": "1999",
      "source": "Psychological Bulletin"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 391,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-06-22-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/justifier-une-decision-ce-que-la-responsabilisation-change",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/justifier-une-decision-ce-que-la-responsabilisation-change-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/justifier-une-decision-ce-que-la-responsabilisation-change-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/justifier-une-decision-ce-que-la-responsabilisation-change-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/prise-de-decision/neuchatel",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/neuchatel",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}